Saturday, August 15, 2015

The Cycle: A Mystical Unicorn Becomes Reality

I still can't believe it actually happened. Matt Kemp hit for the cycle last night. Excuse me while I pinch myself. Yep, that happened, the Padres FINALLY hit for the cycle. The cycle was just one of the mystical unicorns the Padres have chased their entire existence AND IT FINALLY APPEARED!! It wasn't just a mystical unicorn for the Padres, it was also one for Kemp himself. I saw a quote on twitter of Glenn Hoffman talking to Kemp, as he stood there on third, about it being the first cycle. Kemp thought Hoffman meant his first cycle. How adorable. I do kind of really love that his entire career as a Dodger he never hit for a cycle and his first season here, he checks it off his list like it was nothing. Of course some Padres fans choose to look at the "negative" side of this historical moment. Yes, Kemp had been a Dodger his entire career prior to joining the Padres but guess what, that blue that he's wearing now, not Dodgers blue. And the deep hatred we used to have towards him vanished when Preller traded for him. I don't care that he was a a Dodger in his past, he's a Padre now and that number of his NEEDS to be retired. When you're the first to do something in a teams history, you deserve to be immortalized on top of the batters eye.

As a Padres fan, I was doubtful that we'd get the cycle last night. We have been so close so many times. We even had multiple players earlier this season in one game who were both one hit away. As I'm sure you have heard, the triple is often the most difficult hit to get. So many things had to go right for Kemp to get the triple to solidify his place in Padres history. And as one who likes to play into superstitions, I was beyond annoyed at how many times I heard or read that he was one hit away during the game. I transformed into the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil monkeys and pretended like no one was talking about it. I like to believe that me pretending like people weren't talking about it is why it happened. Don't shit on my parade if you don't believe in superstitions or that my pretending it wasn't being talked about is why it happened. Just keep your mouths shut and enjoy the history that was made.

In freaky coincidence news, I got these fun facts off the Twitter last night, if you add up 7444 (the number of games it took to get a cycle) and break up the numbers in the date (8-14-15) individually, they both equal 19. How freaky and awesome is that?! Tony might not be alive anymore but he sure as hell is still with us. For all we know, maybe he went all Angels in the Outfield on us last night and that's why Kemp got the cycle.

Long story short, retire Kemp's number, build him a statue, rename the stadium after him. I don't care what you do, just immortalize that moment somehow. Also, pretty sure Preller deserves something too for pulling off the trade that allowed this happen. Best GM EVER.